"You brought this upon yourselves." Lin Jing tapped the wall lightly with the hilt of his knife. The zombies at the entrance to the corridor immediately noticed the sound, but because the smell of zombie blood on Lin Jing was too strong, the zombies hesitated whether to attack him.
Seeing that the six zombies were not chasing him, Lin Jing knocked on the wall again. Now the six zombies were sure that there was a sound, and they rushed towards Lin Jing.
However, the fire escape was narrow, and the more crowded they were, the better it was for Lin Jing. He kicked the zombie that rushed forward first, and the zombies behind it also began to lose their balance. The two zombies at the back were even nearly knocked over by the kick.
Lin Jing knew that such damage wouldn't harm the zombies, but it would at least slow them down. That's when he launched a furious slash at the zombies in front of him. The leading male zombie's head was immediately decapitated by his Tang Dao. Two of the five zombies behind him were tripped by the fallen male zombie, while the other three continued to charge at him.
Lin Jing was well prepared. He had already gone up to the second-floor stairwell and was waiting. He threw a pickle jar from someone's house at the approaching zombies. The leading zombie was hit hard by the jar and fell backwards, taking the two zombies behind him with it.
Lin Jing was waiting for this moment. He stretched out his leg to step on a zombie on his left and slashed at its skull. The zombie in the middle was about to get up. As he drew his sword, he swung it around and slashed at the zombie in the middle. He swung it with incredible speed, kicking it in the chest. Then, with his tang sword, he swung it horizontally, slashing at the zombie on his left.
Having dealt with the zombie on the left, the zombie on the right had already stood up again and lunged at Lin Jing. He kneed the female zombie in the abdomen and brought his sword across its neck, slashing hard. Smelly blood splattered all over Lin Jing's face. He kicked it hard, sending it tumbling down the stairs, taking the zombie in the middle with it.
The zombie in the middle looked to be in his sixties or seventies, with white hair. When Lin Jing first struck, he could sense the brittleness of its bones. The zombie to the right was likely a young woman, no taller than 1.6 meters.
Lin Jing, taking advantage of the moment they were climbing, had already rushed in close, dispatching the older zombie with a single strike. Then, with a twist of the blade, he dispatched the younger woman with barely a pause.
The two male zombies who had fallen first had also climbed back to their feet, but because Lin Jing's scent was so overpowering, they, relying on their senses, had a 60% chance of him being one of their kind, and therefore refrained from charging headfirst.
Lin Jing's clothes were now splattered with blood; his face, hands, and even his katana were all soaked in the zombie's blood. If it weren't for his immense willpower, he would have vomited by now. It's no exaggeration to say that in his current state, he would have frightened anyone to death.
Just because the zombies stopped attacking Lin Jing didn't mean he wouldn't. He now saw these monsters as mere crystal cores. Thinking this, Lin Jing sheathed his dagger and unsheathed the compound crossbow behind him. He'd test whether decapitation was necessary or simply blunt force wounds to the head would kill the zombies.
He immediately loaded a bolt and fired at the first zombie that lunged at him. The compound crossbow had excellent piercing power, and at a range of only three or four meters, Lin Jing's shot was accurate. His arrow pierced the zombie's forehead, sending it reeling.
Lin Jing didn't hesitate, loading another bolt and firing it at the zombie's head. This one pierced directly through its temples, effectively dispatching the six zombies that had been blocking the building's entrance.
Lin Jing glanced at the compound crossbow in his hand. It was useful, but reloading took time. There were only a few zombies here; if there were more, he wouldn't have had enough time. His best bet was to get a gun.
"Congratulations, dear, on successfully killing six more zombies. You've now collected a total of 13 Level 1 zombie cores. Keep up the good work, dear." The system's mechanical voice echoed in his mind again.
It was still a while before 4 p.m., and Lin Jing didn't plan to venture out into crowded areas. Judging by the current situation, he should be able to collect a good portion of the zombies he killed in the complex. It
was certainly exhausting, though. Lin Jing walked out of the apartment building. The zombie blood on his face and body masked his scent of the living, and as he exited, he ran into two zombies. They were wearing property management uniforms and were probably the community workers watering the trees and grass.
The two zombies scanned Lin Jing, deciding he didn't look human at all, and turned to leave.
The corners of Lin Jing's lips curled up. The zombies were ignoring him? "I didn't say I'd let them go, did I?"
Lin Jing thought as he charged at the two zombies. He swung his katana and chopped down at the buzz-cut zombie on his left. Then, he slammed his right leg into the zombie's back and kicked him hard, knocking him to the ground. At the same time, he ripped the katana from the zombie's spine.
Meanwhile, the other zombie stared blankly at Lin Jing. It looked a bit dazed, its rotting face covered in black-framed glasses. It stood there motionless, as if it couldn't understand why Lin Jing was fighting this zombie, even though they were all zombies.
Seeing it wasn't attacking him, Lin Jing didn't move either. He quickly walked over to the buzz-cut zombie, planted his leg on his back, and with a single, sharp chop, severed his spine. Lin Jing was sprayed with more foul-smelling blood, some even dripping onto his face.
Just as Lin Jing was about to make his move, someone upstairs heard the noise and many people stood at the windows, peering in.
Zhang Ming, from the 2001st floor, was one of them. Born into a wealthy family, Guanghua Community was just one of his several residences. He'd been living there with his boyfriend for the past few days, never expecting Jiangbei City to be in such a state.
Standing at the window, he raised a trembling hand and pointed downstairs. "Aren't they all zombies? Why are they fighting each other?"
Xu Xiaoying was practically in tears. He'd just witnessed the knife-wielding zombie slaughter two others, blood splattering everywhere.
"Zhang Ming, what should we do? Can you get through to your dad? Can we get bodyguards to protect us? I'm so scared, so scared. The whole world has gone mad, it's all gone mad." Xu Xiaoying cried, shaking Zhang Ming's arm.
"I know. I've made several calls, but no one answered. Do you think I don't want to? What happened to this damn monster? Why don't the police come to take care of it? Get rid of these ghosts." Zhang Ming said angrily.
He hugged Xu Xiaoying tightly and said shiveringly: "Don't worry, our building should be safe. As long as we don't go out, the zombies won't come looking for us. We are on the 20th floor. If anyone has to die, it will be those downstairs who will die first. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid."
At this moment, Lin Jing, who was mistaken for a zombie by others, had blood on his cheek, like a Shura crawling out of hell. He smiled at the ignorant zombie with glasses, rushed over with a long knife in both hands, and chopped it down with another neat knife. Then Lin Jing kicked the chest of the zombie with glasses with one leg, pulled out the Tang knife neatly, and chopped it into the spine of the zombie with glasses again. As the smelly blood spurted out, the two zombies crawled quietly on the ground, and there was no movement.
Lin Jing reached out to wipe the foul-smelling blood from his face, but as he raised his hand, he decided it wasn't necessary; his hands were already covered in blood.
He figured he could go to the convenience store downstairs first. There must be a restroom there, and once he was done with the zombies, he could go back and clean himself off.
With that thought in mind, Lin Jing wandered the neighborhood, covered in the stench of blood. Besides the nauseating smell, the zombies had lost all interest in him, treating his stinking body as just another member.
Using his blood-covered body as an advantage, Lin Jing roamed the neighborhood, hacking away at the zombies. By the time he reached the supermarket, he had already killed 45 zombies. But the price he paid was the overwhelming stench. He felt like he was going to vomit if he didn't wash.
He reluctantly pulled out a tissue, wiped his face, and headed inside.
But Lin Jing was obviously not so lucky. In the small supermarket, he spotted five zombies at a glance. However, for the same reason, those five zombies were obviously not very interested in Lin Jing. The
five zombies had different appearances, but the same thing was the fishy and rotten smell on them.
Lin Jing sighed, picked up his Tang sword, and rushed to the nearest shelf. A short male zombie was wandering there. Hearing the movement behind him, the male zombie became excited. When he moved towards Lin Jing, he keenly smelled the fishy smell on Lin Jing, which was even stronger than his own. Therefore, the male zombie immediately lost interest in Lin Jing.